Garbage Laws

Garbage Laws,   a Narritive Essay


The town of Kabawaga,   where I live,   has some very strict garbage bylaws that were first introduced some ten years ago in an effort to use new recycling guidelines and to save money as authorities at that time stated that the landfills were almost at capacity.   And what started out as a conservation measure has now escalated into a stack of “garbage laws” for our community.   The town claimed that it was progressing as each year saw a new bylaw regulating garbage come into effect.   Every year more was expected from the taxpayer in abidance to these new bylaws and the town appointed officers to enforce them,   who went out and gave out fines to taxpayers not obeying the garbage law. I saw many neighbor get cited for taking their garbage out to the curb too early.   The law states that garbage must be taken to curbside after 6:00pm the night before pickup.   I suppose that's fine if you have a daytime job.   Did anyone at town hall ever hear of shift-workers?  


          The most recent change,   just passed last week by town council prohibits putting plastic bottles in a plastic bag.   Now all plastic bottles must be taken out to curbside in an open top square plastic recycle box provided by the town for five dollars.   Plastic bottles that are not in this box will not be picked up and violators will be fined according to the channel 7 news report I saw.   And so, this year we already have another new nonsense bylaw.


And why are these laws nonsense?   This list explains it: there can be no more than five garbage cans out at one time at any one residence, no cans can be put out to curbside until six p.m. the day before pickup, all garbage must be tightly wrapped in a clear plastic garbage bag, no oil bottle, paint cans, or other chemical bottles are allowed with regular garbage, no sand, concrete, or rocks allowed in garbage, no cardboard allowed except only twice a year at special pickup time, newspapers must be...